Ocean fertilization

Stop Climos Chaos at the London convention of Dumping

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• published: 05 Nov 2007
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People from the Camp for Climate Action, Rising Tide & Bio-Fules watch took action against geo-engineering [1] companies who are hoping to make a great deal of money from carbon credits by encouraging the growth of phytoplankton in the oceans . They claim this will 'sequester' carbon dioxide [2], a technology known as 'ocean seeding'. The campaigners held a demonstration outside a meeting of the London Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes [3]. The meeting is deciding on the response by the Convention to the attempts to commercialise the technology [4]. They gave out leaflets to delegates calling on the London Convention to take strong action against this dumping of toxic material, and held a banner reading 'Toxic Dumping: No Climate Solution'. Campaigner Sarah Mills said: "These companies don't care about climate change they are just out to make a fast buck out of the carbon market. This risky technofix won't work but it will be used to enable the rich to keep polluting the planet while the poor feel the worst effects of climate change." Ruperto Aleroza of Kilusang Mangingisda, the Philippine Fisherfolks Movement, represents local people whose livelihoods are threatened by Australian company Ocean Nourishment Corporation, who already have plans to dump synthetic urea in the oceans around the Philippines said: "This technology is unacceptable. It is a dangerous technology that could imperil the marine environment which is the main source of survival and livelihood of poor fisherfolks in the Philippines." A study by forty seven ocean scientists published in Nature has shown that this technology is unlikely to sequester much carbon dioxide [5]. They claim that their results mean "an end to the geo-engineering utopia that consists of artificially seeding the oceans with iron." CONTACT: IMAGES AVAILABLE Notes to editors: 1 -- Geo-engineering is a term used to describe the deliberate modification of Earth's environment on a large scale. 2 -- Companies who have announced plans to commercialise ocean seeding include Atmocean, Climos, Planktos and Ocean Nourishment Corporation. 3 -- The London Convention on Marine Pollution by Dumping of Toxic Wastes is part of the International Maritime Organisation, a United Nations Agency. 4 -- The scientific group of the London Convention have already expressed their strong concerns around the environmental and human health impacts of this technology at the 30th meeting of the London Convention, June 1, 2007. www.imo.org/includes/blastDataOnly.asp/data_id%3D18837/INF-28.pdf 5 -- Blain S et. al., Effect of natural iron fertilization on carbon sequestration in the southern ocean." Nature vol.446, 26th April, 2007, www.nature.com/news/2007/070423/full/070423-8.html 6 - Canadian NGO, the ETC Group, has collated scientific analyses and civil society critiques of ocean dumping. Information is available at:www.etcgroup.org/en/issues/geoengineering.html